180 articles. This is the number of articles about NewJeans’ Hanni, who was reported to not be classified as an employee by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, roughly counted on the portal site Naver
About 110 of these articles have open comments, meaning they were published by general news outlets rather than entertainment-specific categories. This indicates the significant attention the issue has drawn from various media outlets, including general and economic newspapers.
It must have been quite a major news story.
On Nov 20th, the Seoul West Regional Employment and Labor Office concluded the workplace bullying complaint filed by NewJeans‘ fans, alleging that Hanni had been ostracized in the workplace, stating that it was difficult to view her as an employee under the Labor Standards Act, and thus it did not qualify as workplace bullying.
Since then, many related articles have been published. A noticeable trend is that many article titles focus on the idea that “it’s not workplace bullying” or imply that Hanni isn’t a worker simply because she makes a lot of money. Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because of the concerns for large corporations, there have been many negative comments under the open-comment articles.
However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor did not state that Hanni was not subjected to workplace bullying. According to the ministry’s manual for preventing and responding to workplace bullying, it applies regardless of the employee’s type of employment or contract duration, but the assumption is that the victim must be considered an “employee”. Therefore, the core of this issue was whether or not Hanni is recognized as an employee.
There have been ongoing discussions about whether the Labor Standards Act can apply to entertainers, but the government has historically determined that entertainers are considered exception parties working under exclusive contracts with agencies, rather than employees. This stance has continued with this case.
So, whether Hanni truly lacks employee status, and whether entertainers should continue to fall outside the scope of the Labor Standards Act, are separate matters. However, at the very least, it is not “fact” that there was no workplace bullying.
After the issue came to light on Nov 20th and five days had passed, I was waiting to see if HYBE PR would take action to correct the inaccurate “facts” in these articles, as they had done before. In the past, a HYBE PR representative had urged a reporter at Seoul Newspaper to “correct the facts right away” regarding the inaccurate report about NewJeans’ success in Japan.
Coincidentally, on the same day, ADOR (HYBE’s subsidiary) announced that Min Hee-jin had resigned from her position as an internal director. They stated “We are deeply sorry for Min Hee-jin’s unilateral resignation” and reaffirmed their commitment to supporting NewJeans’ continued growth. I thought HYBE would at least take some minimal action here as well.
Unfortunately, whether HYBE failed to take appropriate action or if their efforts were ineffective, the vast majority of the 180 articles still retain their original titles. For reference, articles on Min Hee-jin’s resignation totaled around 230 articles.
It’s worth noting that the number of articles about HYBE’s music industry report, which caused a stir in the K-pop industry, was far fewer than half of these.
A behind-the-scenes story from the 1st Korea Grand Music Awards (KGMA) held on Nov 16th is that NewJeans had discussed collaborating on stage with ZEROBASEONE. However, because ZEROBASEONE was mentioned in HYBE’s music industry report, there were concerns about potential complications, and they eventually declined the offer.
At times like this, the phrase “adults being worse than children” might be more applicable than expected.
On Nov 13th, NewJeans sent a letter of formal notice to ADOR, stating they would terminate their exclusive contract if the issues were not addressed by Nov 27th.
One of the main issues NewJeans raised in their formal notice was a statement from HYBE’s music industry report, revealed during a parliamentary audit on October 24, which read: “I struggled with the term ‘NewARR’ (NewJeans, I’LL-IT, LE SSERAFIM) for days, but we can just scrap New and start fresh.” The members demanded clarity on who decided to abandon NewJeans, who carried out the actions, and for civil and criminal measures to address any misconduct, including breach of trust discovered during the process. They also called for an official apology from the manager who told Hanni to “ignore it” and reiterated their demand for Min Hee-jin’s reinstatement as CEO.
ADOR’s current management has yet to reveal a concrete response to NewJeans’ demands. Following NewJeans’ emergency live broadcast in October, ADOR publicly rejected their requests by the set deadline. It is expected that ADOR will issue a response to this formal notice by November 27.
While it remains unclear what ADOR’s decision will be, the resurfacing of Min Hee-jin’s leaked chat messages and speculation about billions in breach fees suggest that ADOR might have already decided to move forward without NewJeans. If that weren’t the case, HYBE would have acted promptly to correct inaccuracies in the reports.
Breach fees only arise when contractual obligations are violated, and the amount varies depending on the specific breaches identified by either side. Speculative calculations based on NewJeans’ earnings are not factual. If trust has broken down between NewJeans and ADOR—or HYBE—the matter of terminating their exclusive contract or filing for a preliminary injunction to suspend it will ultimately be determined by the court, which will assess the evidence and decide who breached the contract.
Similarly, allegations of tampering with NewJeans are unfounded. In the entertainment industry, tampering refers to an artist under contract negotiating prematurely with another agency. NewJeans’ case is clearly different. During the parliamentary audit, Culture Minister Yoo In-chon apologized for confusion caused by tampering-related comments, acknowledging that they led to some negative public opinions.
Whether HYBE has been ineffective in addressing these inaccuracies or has chosen not to act, misinformation remains uncorrected. Viral short-form videos on platforms like TikTok falsely claiming that NewJeans will disband on November 27 are another example.
If ADOR and HYBE genuinely aim to protect NewJeans and help them grow, now is the time to show it through actions, not just words. Only two days remain.
